Portfolio Insights:“The financial statements of Hamilton College (the College), which is a coeducational, independent, liberal arts college located in Clinton, New York, are prepared on the accrual basis of accounting. Net assets and revenues, expenses, gains, and losses are classified based on the existence or absence of donor-imposed restrictions.

The College reports gifts of cash and other assets as restricted support if they are received with donor stipulations that limit the use of the donated assets. When a donor restriction expires, that is, when a stipulated time restriction ends or purpose restriction is accomplished, temporarily restricted net assets are reclassified to unrestricted net assets and reported in the statement of activities as net assets released from restrictions.” (Source)

1) Nov 4, 2007 – Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., with a $700 million endowment, returned 21.1 percent last year. And Furman University of Greenville, S.C., with an endowment of just $400 million, earned 23.4 percent. Those numbers compare with 28 percent for Yale, whose endowment of $22.5 billion is the second largest; and 23 percent for Harvard, with the biggest endowment, at $34.9 billion. (Source)

2) Jun 30, 2005 – Hamilton College Alumni for Governance Reform (HCAGR), a group of concerned alumni who have been advocating changes to help protect Hamilton from further reputational harm, is pleased that the College has taken steps to centralize and provide additional oversight over the process it uses to select and fund speakers. Four months ago, in its February 17th position paper, HCAGR proposed that the College create an oversight panel of students, faculty, alumni and community members. While the College’s proposal is more limited in the scope of its oversight, HCAGR believes that this centralization will help ensure that the administration is better aware of future speakers and will provide a single point of accountability in the Dean of the Faculty. (Source)

3) At Hamilton College, the Coupers created the Williams Watrous Couper Fund, which has supported the teaching and scholarship of hundreds of faculty members. Other Couper funds support the Burke Library, including an endowment to fund the library director’s position. After Dick’s death in 2006, Patsy continued to make contributions, which she called a “birthday gift to herself,” to honor Hamilton alumni, faculty and staff. (Source)

4) Hamilton College, a private liberal arts institution, is situated on 1,300 hilltop acres overlooking the Village of Clinton, in central New York. The third oldest college in New York, Hamilton was chartered in 1812 and named after its former trustee and the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Today, there are 177 full-time faculty members, allowing for a student-faculty ratio of 10 to one. A men’s college until 1978, it became coeducational after uniting with its sister institution, Kirkland College. Hamilton’s current undergraduate enrollment is 1,812 (53 percent women and 47 percent men). Students hail from 49 states and 45 countries; nearly one-quarter of the student body consists of multicultural students from the United States or international students. Thirteen percent of students are the first generation in their family to attend college. Hamilton is need-blind in its admission decisions and meets the full demonstrated financial need of every accepted student. Nearly half of students study abroad during their time at Hamilton through 180 programs around the world as well as U.S. locations in New York, Boston and Washington. Notable alumni include poet Ezra Pound, psychologist B.F. Skinner, Elihu Root – secretary of war and state under Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, contemporary artists Spencer Finch and Josh Simpson, novelist Kamila Shamsie, and actor and writer for The Office Paul Lieberstein. (Source)

5) Hamilton College (Clinton, NY) is adopting a “need blind” admissions policy; Hamilton expects over the next four years to add about $2 million to its annual financial aid budget. Initially, that additional expense will be borne by six trustees, who have each pledged $500,000 to seed the need-blind effort, and then from an anticipated $40 million supplied by capital campaign.

While most institutions are not considering something on the scale of need blind admissions, many colleges are working to establish endowed scholarships or other financial aid through donor support. We asked Jim Langley, founder and president of Langley Innovations, and past vice president of advancement at Georgetown University, for advice on how to make the most compelling case possible to donors. (Source)

About Richard C. Wilson

INC 500

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